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Prof. Nelson honored for guiding new parents
The award honors the nation’s most outstanding Cooperative Extension state specialist in family life and human development. Nelson was cited for organizing extension specialists across the country to provide parenting newsletters to new parents. It is one of the Cooperative Extension’s most successful multistate efforts. Nelson’s Just In Time Parenting newsletters inform new parents what children do every month during their first years--when they begin to make sounds, when they open their fists and other milestones. They also address subjects such as postpartum blues and crying babes. Sally Martin, professor and extension specialist with the University of Nevada at Reno, credits Nelson with spreading the newsletters nationwide. “She has used her skills and a lot of time and energy to move the Just In Time Parenting program from a good idea embraced in a number of states toward a national program,” Martin said. “Although Dr. Nelson is totally on top of the literature, linked to influential people and has a superb web site on parenting, she is always modest about her own expertise while extolling the virtues of others.” Wallace Goddard, professor at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension program, called Nelson one of the nation’s most influential and effective parent education experts. “Her work is based on sound research. Her personal enthusiasm and commitment have changed the national landscape for parents,” Goddard said. Nelson’s Just in Time parenting newsletters spread across the U.S., but, until about five years ago, they were individually produced state-by-state. Since then, Nelson has been working to extend the core material to all states and to develop an electronic, interactive newsletter. The Just in Time program also has been awarded a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative grant to produce pilot childhood obesity prevention programs. Nelson said the need for parenting resources is greater than ever. “These are very exciting times for our Just in Time Parenting team--and we think it is ‘just in time’--because families are becoming increasingly time-starved and under-connected,” she said. “The need for family-friendly, concise research-based information that links families to quality family-centered resources is stronger now than ever before.” Article by Kathy Canavan |
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